At least 11 police officers were martyred and seven injured when dacoits attacked two police vehicles with rockets in the riverine area of Rahim Yar Khan’s Machka.

According to a Punjab police statement, two police vans were returning from their weekly assignments in the riverine Machaka district of Rahim Yar Khan when one of them experienced a failure.

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“The bandits attacked the vehicles with rocket launchers after one of the vehicles in the convoy broke down,” said a statement from the inspector general’s office in Punjab.

“At least 9 policemen were martyred in the attack, while several policemen injured.”

Organised criminal gangs have been active in the riverine border areas of Sindh and Punjab provinces for decades, often making money through kidnap-for-ransom assaults.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered “immediate and effective action” against the attackers, his office said in a statement.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz denounced the incident and promised that it would not go “unavenged.”

She said officials were sent out with “clear directions to sort them out decisively.”

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“The selflessness of law enforcement officers will never be forgotten,” she declared, instructing the relevant authorities to move quickly to locate any missing officers.

Federal interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, condemned the act and expressed his deep sorrow over the “martyrdom of the 11 police officers”.

In May, two notorious dacoits were killed in fierce clash between forces and a gang of katcha area in joint operation of police and Ranges on Sindh-Punjab boarder.